Wisps of blond hair framed eyes raw with emotion. “Mayhap,” she whispered, “Ialready have.”
“What could you have done?” he demanded, furious she’d blame herself. “’Twasna as if you knew of the Duke of Northbyrn’s strategic arrival. Even if you had, believing he was in league with Comyn, when his ships dropped anchor in the bay, you would have allowed the traitor entry into your castle. And,” he continued, one palm rising to stop her when she opened her mouth to argue, “what if Comyn had arrived before the English fleet? With the duke having seized your home, do you think King Edward’s man would have allowedComyn to live?”
The little color inher face fled.
On a muttered curse, Aiden brushed away a lone tear glistening on the curve of her cheek, the silkiness of her skin in stark contrast to her fierce will. “However terrible the circumstance, your courage to face the challenges, to press on, astounds me.”
Anger glittered in her eyes and she turned away.
Moved by her passion, by the complex woman who made him want beyond what was safe, he caught her shoulders and turned her to face him. “You made the best choices you could!”
She stiffened. “W-What if they are not enough?”
“Blast it, I refuse to allow you to condemn your decisions. Your every action is given with care, goodness, and honor.” He released an unsteady breath, and spoke from the heart. “You are the bravest woman Ihave ever met.”
“If I was brave, instead of leaving, I would have confronted the duke and driven my blade through his treacherous heart.”
He grunted. “Had you tried, with your guard greatly outnumbered, you would have been capturedif not killed.”
“Mayhap, but the Sassenachwould be dead.”
Aiden crossed his arms. “Aye, and another English noble sent by Edward of Caernarfon stepped into his place.”
Red sweeping her cheeks, Gwendolyn strode across the chamber, whirled. “I hate war.”
“As do I,” he agreed, the scrape of blades melding with screams of death of the battles he’d fought over the years still raw in his mind. He stepped toward her. “I despise each day, each life I or my men take, and will thank God once the last sword is sheathed. But to not confront evil or halt the threat is to empower those whowish us dead.”
She stared at him a long moment, the struggle for calm in her expression, her acceptance of the pain, and the upheaval of the past few days, easy to read. With a frustrated exhale, she shook her head. “Now what?”
“Wefinish eating.”
She scrutinized him as if performing her own internal evaluation, then a sad smile touched her mouth. “As simple as that?”
Aiden nodded, suppressed the burning ache to cradle her against his chest. “For now, we canna do more. On the morrow once we sneak out, with the duke’s men in search of us, ’twill be a dangerous journey. We need all of the rest we can get.”
“Then we should finish the fare.”
At her sigh, his gaze lowered to her full lips, and her belief that he hadn’t liked her kiss sifted through his mind.
Liked?
A colossalunderstatement.
He wanted, no, he craved her touch. Her soft sweetness beckoned, destroying his hold on logic, on his purpose for being here, and muddling his brain until he wanted to haul Gwendolyn against him and help her forget the atrocities of this day.
His reactions toward Gwendolyn went beyond the usual. Her beauty, her character and courage all appealed to him more than any woman he’d ever met. In this mayhem they were bound, each aching from wounds not yet healed. Yet, however much he wanted, he couldn’t pursue a deeper relationship now.
Or ever.
At his silence, she frowned as her eyes searched his. “What is wrong?”
“This, us, I…” Aiden stepped out of reach, the depth of his desire for her shaking him to the core. “Our kiss earlier this day,” he breathed, damning his words, yet overwhelmed by the urge to give her something when she’d been stripped of her home, and the life she loved. “You pleased me greatly. However much ’twould be wise, I canna pretendindifference.”
A delicate blush crept up her cheeks. “We are nay longer in danger, and hours lay ahead until dawn.”
Heat stormed him at thoughts of hauling her to him. Given the situation, a mistake. He started to turn away, but caught the sadness in her eyes. Bedamned, had she not been hurt enough?
On a sharp curse, Aiden closed the distance and cupped her face, damned the warnings blaring in his mind. “We have time, but ’tissleep we need.”
